How to put a large video file on a dvd-r?

[Tom Wolsky]

It’s a reference movie. It will only play on your computer. Take the exported file to Compressor. Encode to MPEG-2 with Dolby Digital audio. Put it all in DVDSP and author and burn onto a dual layer disc.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”

[Mark Suszko]

You could export>h264 and burn it as data to the DVD? That will play on any decent computer now. Tom’s version takes longer but is more universally playable on actual DVD players as well as computer drives.

[Austin Steele]

Thats what I tried to do. The problem now is that the file is going to be about 200gb big and I don’t have that much space on my computer.

Is there a way that I can export to a smaller file size under 50gb? Quality isn’t important right now.

Thanks.

[Michael Sacci]

You take that Ref movie you made in your original post and drop it into Compressor. IF you want a playable DVD you need to encode the movie with an average bitrate of 3.1 (and use ac3 audio) Then take these to files into DVDSP and make a DVD.

Or as Tom said you can make a H264 movie and if you use the for iPod it will look pretty good and the file will fit onto the DVD but it can only play on a computer.

FYI – a Reference movie only contains the audio and then just points to the video in another place. When you move that file to a disc you are breaking the link and it can no longer find the needed video, and if you said the movie to someone else the video is no where to be found.

[Austin Steele]

The file I exported and de-selected ‘make movie self contained’. Take that into compressor? Will that work even though its just a reference file?

Anyways I tried that last night and it took over night and still said it had 40 hours left.

Am I understanding you correctly?

[Michael Sacci]

[Austin Steele] “Will that work even though its just a reference file?
“ Yes this is what a ref movie is for. You cannot move this files to another system but it will work.

If you have a slow system it can take forever, there is a reasonably prices H264 encoder that will do it close to real time. https://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/Turbo264HD/product1.en.html there is even a tutorial on the Cow by Richard H. this is not for a playable DVD but you can fit a H264 file on a disc and send it off. This is the way to go.

To speed up Compressor to m2v (for a DVD) you would need to turn off Frame Control and use CBR instead of VBR for encoding, you will be giving up quality of the video those. 3 hours on a DVD is a lot to ask for. You could use DVD DL+R and raise the bitrate of the CBR.

WIthout the right hardware this is slow and even with the right hardware it ain’t fast.

[Mark Suszko]

What I have at the office are stand-alone DVD recorders from Panasonic; they work like the DVD equivalent of a VCR. Even to the point that they come in super-high quality 1 hour mode, standard quality 2-hour ,4-hour, 6, and 8 hour record modes. I use the 8-hour speed on my home unit to make DVD’s of old Hawaii Five-O re-runs, 8 per disc. At work, the 2 and 4-hour modes work fine. You can find these used on ebay for $50-100 or new in Walmarts for around $100. Push button and walk away, Simple. if you HAVE one.

[Martin Curtis]

[Mark Suszko] “What I have at the office are stand-alone DVD recorders from Panasonic; they work like the DVD equivalent of a VCR.”
Those things are the duck’s nuts. Since encoding can take so long, for a quickie preview disc it’s easier to just play it out in real-time, set it to autoplay with no menu and you’re good to go.

My Pannys even have DV input so I can drop a tape onto a DVD, give it to the client and tell them to come back to me with an EDL (I work for the guvmint so I get to tell people what to do). When they come back, throw in the tape, set IO points and batch capture just what is needed.